Feathers
by Ninja Cat of Light
Summary: DISCONTINUED! Nine angels for nine demons. That is what it has always been and will be for the rest of eternity... Or so they thought. Now, all they can do is to try to escape a world who hates all 18 of them. NxH
1. Chapter 1

Wow, my first Naruto fic

Wow, my first Naruto fic! I've been waiting for this for a looong time but I could never get the right story line I wanted until now. Please, review! That will help you get a chapter dedicated to you! I keep wondering if this fic would be classified as AU or what. But still I'm happy as long as everybody who reads it will like it. I've been spending a lot of time thinking and sorting through it. Alrighty then, I'd better get this story started, nobody wants to read about what the authoress is jabbering about when they could be reading the story instead! But before I start this fic, I'd like to note that this stuff was entirely made up by me and the people who created Naruto. You can't really kill an angel, that's impossible unless you're God and you willed it to happen but of course nobody's God but God himself. Also, I don't own Naruto just maybe the present and future OC's who might not make it into this fic.

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Chapter 1 The War

There had always been nine angels and nine demons throughout the ages.

Years later after Sasuke had left Konohakure, an angel had died. The cause of its death was a demon…

After the angel joined Kami in the heavens, the angel that was supposed to replace it hadn't come yet. This angered the angels convincing them that the demons had defiled the sacred words of Kami. There were always a certain number of angels and a certain number of demons to balance out the world's chaos. Every demon brought chaos, every angel brought peace. So there were always nine angels for nine demons…Until that one year the angel was killed.

Then, a war between the angels and demons broke out, and since there was one angel short the balance was broken and chaos followed in every battle of the angel-demon war. But something had happened during the war… The angel had risen back, with the will to stop the rising chaos.

When the chaos had broken and the balance returned the war was over, the humans came out of hiding, and soon the humans began to hate the angels and the demons even more than they had already. Humans began to hunt down the angels and demons, attempting to dispose of them, believing that that was the only way to promise that the world would never fall into chaos again. But the angels and demons knew that it would only throw the world back into chaos, so they all went into hiding. The demons already had their vessels to hide away in and the angels disguised themselves as ordinary humans…

And this is where the story begins, with the vessel of Kyuubi and the one who was crushing on him…

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He sat among the bushes of the forest where he had been for a long time. His spiky blonde locks waved lazily in the breeze that was blowing throughout the forest. His blue eyes stared at the sky as the clouds drifted slowly across the blue of its own. He was happy to be able to rest for awhile. He had been hunted by ninjas, assassins, bounty hunters, and other people of the sorts. It was a treat just to be able to sit down without having to keep your eyes open for anybody following.

_Wonder what's happening in Konohakure,_ he thought to himself, _Nothing's probably changed since I left._

Naruto rose to his feet, his black cloak objected to his action by pulling at the bushes. With a jerk of his shoulder, he freed himself from the leafy grasp. He had been living like this for awhile and was actually getting comfortable with it. Sleep lightly now and again when he finds a place, eat what nature provides, and keep moving with little rest. It wasn't like he hadn't done it before in a mission from his Konoha days. He only wondered how others like him were making it. One slip up for any of them and the world's order will go insane.

Naruto walked now instead of jumping randomly from tree to tree like he usually did when someone was on his trail. He had disposed of the last hunting party that had found him so Naruto would have a little time to take it easy. But what's strange is usually somebody else starts picking up on his trail a few days later. It had been a week since he killed the last people who tried to kill him.

_Strange, _Naruto thought, _they must've found someone else to track down._

Naruto didn't know how right he was…

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She had been running for days. People of all kinds had been hunting her down. The only thing she could do was keep running. She had received her wings a year ago and when she went into disguise, she was found out by prying eyes. She didn't know how to fly with the white wings but she did know how to lose a few people now that she had been running for days. Every town she tried to escape to only have wanted posters with her face on it.

Her short black hair was wildly dancing from the speed she was running at. Her pale eyes were searching for a spot to hide but the night was betraying her vision. Her only choice was to keep running so nobody would find her. Finally, she stopped at a cave hidden behind waterfalls. When she entered, she saw the remnants of somebody's camping spot. An oval like symbol was carved into the stone walls symbolizing that an angel had been there before.

_The others have been here,_ she thought,_ I wonder if they've made it okay so far._

Hinata sat down on the stony floor. She decided she would be able to stay here for a few days before she would have to search for fresh food. For a few minutes she was able to listen to the crashing waterfall before falling asleep.

_"Hinata? What's on your back?"_

_"Hush, Hanabi, don't tell anyone what you've seen!"_

_"Why would I? Why don't you want anyone to know?"_

_"If people find out, I'll be killed,"_

In the morning after Hinata woke from her dream of the past, the first thing she saw was her reflection in the waterfall. Although it seemed a bit distorted, it was the best mirror she would be able to find.

_I look so messy, _Hinata thought as she ran her hand over her dirt covered face, _I guess this is what I get for not taking time to look at myself._

She ran her hand through the water that was roaring downwards and cupped some water in her palm. When she finished scrubbing her face Hinata checked her food supply. All she had was some bread and one cinnamon bun left from when she stole from her house before leaving. Hinata sighed when she realized she was going to have to catch her food soon. Usually, she was accustomed to going out and buying it instead of stealing and fishing. She refrained from killing animals though; she couldn't stand having to sort through the guts and blood when she had to harvest its meat, Hinata especially felt guilty if she had to force herself to kill something cute like a squirrel or rabbit.

Hinata ran her fingers through her short hair, trying to get the few tangles out the best she could. Her white eyes stared at the changing reflection the water showed her. She looked pretty rough for a Hyuuga heiress.

_Shikata ga nai, _she thought to herself as she pulled a strip of cloth out of her bag. (Translation: It cannot be helped.)

Hinata tied bait to the end of it and submersed half of the three foot cloth in the water. She would have to settle for fish once she finished off the rest of her food, so Hinata wanted to get a head start. Of course, though, fishing takes time and that time leaves a lot to think about, in fact, that's what Hinata did.

She wondered about what was happening in Konohakure. Whether her family was making it fine without her.

_Of course they would, _Hinata depressingly thought, _they were better off without me anyway._

Hinata felt the tug of a fish trying to take off with the bit of bate she had. Quickly, she jerked the cloth out of the water. Sadly, the fish was gone and it took the bait with it. Her large wings flapped in annoyance. Hinata found another piece of bait and continued her work.

_I wonder what Kiba and Shino are doing? Probably just training like everyone else would be right now, _Hinata thought, _I wonder how Naruto's doing?_

She felt her heart jerk at the thought of Naruto. Hinata knew he was a demon vessel and worried the minute she knew he left Konohakure. She tried calming herself with reassuring words but Hinata just couldn't help but feel afraid for her blonde love. She hoped desperately that she would see him at least once before one of them died in this hunt.

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Naruto was leisurely walking just a few yards off of the road that snaked through the forest. He was glad that he would get a break from killing any pursuers. He let his eyes close for minute to rest his vision. Even though he couldn't see, he knew exactly where he was going, exactly what was in front of him, and exactly what was around him. All of his other senses had heightened as soon as his eyes shut.

The sound of distant voices filled his sharp ears.

"_Hey, can you get the door for me?"_

_"Sorry, Neko, I'm reading,"_

_"Can you at least put your book down for once and hold the door long enough for me, just this one time,"_

_"Ask again later,"_

_"Baka, you need to learn to think of others besides yourself, you know that, Akane?"_

Naruto heard the conversation from deeper within the woods accompanied by the scents of two angels, one female, the other male, and one demon, male. They must've set up camp where humans couldn't find them. Not to mention the scent of cats filled his senses, there were a lot of them around. He stopped in his tracks, debating whether to intrude or not.

_"I hope Ookami eats you alive for some stupid reason I don't know yet,"_

_"Keep dreaming, gaki,"_

_"Baka,"_

_"Poor Neko, that's all she can come up with,"_

_"Shut up!"_

Neko must've been the female angel, Akane, the male angel. Ookami, the one Neko mentioned, must've been the demon. His scent was a bit stale; he had left camp a few hours earlier alone.

Naruto was about to just sit down and see what else might happen before leaving them behind before the demon's scent returned, and another certain scent accompanied him…

"Hinata?!" Naruto exclaimed as he dove into the heart of the woods.

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_Earlier before..._

Hinata was able to catch only two small fish. The small pond she was living at didn't provide much food. She only sighed at her small catch and started cleaning and gutting them, much to her distaste. As Hinata sliced off pieces of meat from the thin bones, her thoughts continued.

_I wonder if anybody's been caught, _Hinata thought, referring to the fellow angels,_ Even if I don't know much about any, they're still like me. Most of them have been through what I have, even the demons…_ then, she couldn't help but think his name, _Naruto…_

Hinata was busy thinking and working on her two small fish. She almost didn't notice the waterfall part as somebody interrupted its ever downward fall. When she did notice, it startled her enough to drop her fish, but not her knife.

"Well, what do we have here?" the person said.

He spotted her uncovered wings, the feathers were brilliantly white still managing to survive the outcomes of Hinata's stress.

"Looks like an angel," he said.

"Stay away!" Hinata warned, nervously holding her knife.

"Why would I want to touch _you_?" he half laughed, but it didn't feel very welcoming, "I am a demon after all. Well, at least a vessel. Not some plain, ignorant human."

He had to be at the most two years older than Hinata. He had longish, silver hair, the ends were black as night. His right arm was wrapped in bandages and he wore a long black coat, black shirt, and black pants. He had a blind fold over his eyes signifying that he was possibly blind. He was the very picture of a demon.

"I-I thought you were a-a…" Hinata stuttered nervously.

"What? A human?" he said with great detest.

"Hai," Hinata answered. (Translation: yes)

The demon vessel looked at Hinata's campsite in the cave and only remarked, "Pitiful camp."

"I wasn't going to stay here long," Hinata replied to his rude comment.

"You can follow me back to where I live," he said as he turned back to the water that was streaming down in roaring, white waters, "that is unless you want to stay here."

This was a difficult debate for Hinata. At the demon's camp was possibly better food, better shelter, and possibly others he may be traveling with.

_I doubt he even likes the company of people,_ Hinata thought to herself, _He's already showing it._

It had been awhile for Hinata to think it over. The demon vessel looked like he was beginning to get impatient by the way he flexed his left hand like he was flexing claws.

"Yes, or no, are you coming, or not, because I'm leaving," he said as he ducked under the waterfall.

Hinata hesitated before saying loudly, "Yes, I'm coming."

"Good," he said, "by the way, they call me Ookami."

"I'm Hinata," she said as she followed Ookami's lead.

_Later…_

Hinata had followed Ookami deep into the heart of the woods and soon came upon the back of a small, stone house. It looked old and lived in. Hinata heard voices shouting at each other from the front of the cottage.

"Open the door for just a second," a girl's voice pleaded impatiently and irritated.

"No, I've got to finish just this chapter first," a guy's voice said.

"That's what you said _last _chapter," the girl said ending her sentence with an angry hiss much like a cat's.

"Reow, we're a little moody today," the guy commented light heartedly and teasingly.

"Yeah, because _somebody_ won't get their lazy butt off of the couch just to get the door open," the girl answered.

Hinata cracked a smile at the two's arguing. Ookami sighed exasperatedly and walked around the to the front of the cottage. Hinata followed keeping close to the outer walls of the house. Ookami turned a corner and was directly at the front door, Hinata decided to hang back at her corner.

Hinata saw from her corner a girl wearing a long black cloak. She had long purple hair with a pink sheen and pale blue eyes with a dark blue rim around them. She had a large cardboard box in her arms, the sounds of young, crying kittens emitted from it.

"More of them?" Ookami growled as he opened the old wooden door.

"Yeah, I finally convinced Kuro to put 'em in here so I can get them in the house," the girl said as she walked in.

Ookami walked inside the door too and left it up to Hinata to decide whether she was going to come in or not. She followed him in and Ookami noticed her.

"Oh, yeah, look what followed me home," Ookami said as he pointed a thumb at Hinata.

A boy the same age as her with red hair looked up at her. He was wearing a plain white shirt and jeans. His brown eyes drilled into hers and jokingly commented, "Well, it looks like a mouse to me."

"Not a mouse, just another angel," Ookami said as he set a humongous sword by the entrance like a hunter who'd came home and set his gun beside his door.

"So, what's your name?" the purple haired girl asked as she set the box of kittens down.

"M-my name? It's Hinata…Hinata Hyuuga," Hinata said, speaking shyly and quietly.

"Wow! A Hyuuga!" the purple haired girl said with interest, "I haven't seen you guys since who knows when."

Hinata only shifted her gaze to the box of kittens as one tried to crawl out, its mews sounded like a bird chirping because it was so young. A black cat who must've been their mother was curled up in the box, her frightened yellow eyes weren't moving from Hinata.

"Don't mind Kuro, she's a scaredy cat!" the purple haired girl said, "She won't even let me touch her, and I'm the one who's feeding them! By the way, I'm Neko."

"Nice to meet you…" Hinata barely managed to say without whispering.

Then, a white cat with grey patches trotted in the room. One high pitched meow was enough to grab Neko's attention.

"Shiro!" Neko squealed as she let him climb from her arm and onto her shoulder, "This is Shiro, he's one of my bestest friends!"

"Wow, 'bestest', nice grammar," the red head said from his chair.

"Shut up, Akane!" Neko growled with hostility.

"I was just saying-,"

"No one cares what you say! Now both of you shut up," Ookami said in order to quiet the two.

This did bring a long silence only showing the fear between Ookami and the others. The only sounds was Shiro's purring and the chirping of the small kittens before Akane finally broke the silence.

"So, how long do you plan on staying here?" he asked as he looked up from his book.

"I-I'm not sure," Hinata said nervously.

"Stay as long as you want, I sure don't care," Ookami said as he rummaged through the fridge pulling out raw chicken. He ripped one of the legs from the body and bit into it as if biting into an apple.

"Gross! Go do that somewhere else, at least not in front of a guest!" Neko yelled unpleasantly.

"Hey, a guy's gotta eat," Ookami said, not moving from his spot.

Watching him made Hinata a little queasy so she quickly adverted her gaze to Shiro who was now being cuddled in Neko's arms. Neko noticed Hinata's gaze resting on the cat in her arms.

"Would you like to hold him?" Neko asked warmly.

"Um no, I was just-,"

"Oh, come on! Shiro will like you just fine!" Neko said as she handed the cat over to Hinata who was holding it awkwardly not sure what to do.

These people had welcomed her so kindly into their home, not caring that she was a Hyuuga heiress or that she had wings. Shiro friendlily purred and rubbed against her arm. Hinata felt like purring herself as she thought about the way that these complete strangers had shown her so much hospitality. The amazing thing was everything had happened so suddenly. Hinata was glad and surprised that she wasn't crying tears of joy or any tears at all, it would've been embarrassing for people to ask why she was crying when there wasn't anything to cry about.

Neko's eyes widened as her surprised icy blue gaze rested on the doorway Akane looked up and must've seen too, "Hey, who the heck are you?" he said.

Hinata turned around to see who Neko was angrily speaking to. And there at the front door was Naruto, the one Hinata had been in love with since she could remember.

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Finally! I finally finished it! It took me forever and a half just to make myself get it written! Great, just think of the next chapter! I meant to end this with a cliffhanger though it may have been a badly written one. Say what you like, I'm still proud of myself for actually finishing! By the way, **the next chapter is dedicated to the 5****th**** reviewer! **

Ja ne!  
Ninja Cat of Light


	2. Chapter 2 Not My Boyfriend!

At first when I was submitting this story I realized I had forgotten to name it

Funny thing at first when I was submitting this story I realized I had forgotten to name it! Typical of me not being able to think of a title before actually putting it on fanfiction. So when I was thinking of a title I just typed in the first thing that came to mind and it happened to be the title of one of my favorite Cohid and Cambry songs, Feathers. I freaking love that song! Plus, it sort of fitted this story to me since there are angels in it after all! Once again, I don't own Naruto, if I did Sasuke would've been dead already along with Orochimaru and Kabuto! **This chapter is dedicated to ShinjuUchiha!** Alrighty then, enjoy the second chapter of Feathers!

Feathers

Chapter 2 Not My Boyfriend!

There he was, standing in the doorway looking at her with eyes equally as wide as Neko's were.

"N-Naruto?" Hinata gasped.

_This is impossible! I thought I wouldn't see him again!_ Hinata thought as she gaped at the blonde boy standing at the doorway.

"Who? Why is he standing there like he doesn't have anything else to do?" Neko said, "He'd better not be a human or we might have to get rid of him!"

"No, he's not human, well, not completely," Ookami said as he walked over and stood next to Neko, "He's a demon vessel."

"What did you call him, Hinata?" Akane asked lazily, "Naruto?"

"Yeah," Naruto finally spoke, "My name's Naruto."

Hinata's face was scarlet now, Naruto always had that effect on her. She couldn't take her opaline eyes off of him though, it had been too long since they had seen each other.

"Hinata, it's really you, isn't it?" Naruto said quietly while staring at her.

Naruto was a bit shocked at first even to think that someone like Hinata was out in the forest. Naruto could barely speak as he just stared. He felt like time had stood still.

"What's wrong with him?" Neko asked bluntly.

Then, after Naruto had let the shock settle in enough his whole being was filled with joy.

"Hinata!" Naruto said cheerfully as he gave her a bone crushing hug, "I can't believe I would actually see you here in a place like this!"

Hinata's face couldn't possibly get any redder than it already was. She just let Naruto hug her and when he was finished she would try to speak.

"N-N-Naruto, I-I can't believe i-it's you," Hinata managed to stammer.

"Who would've thought it?" Akane commented, "It must be Hinata's boyfriend!"

"Boyfriend!" Hinata shouted in disbelief.

It didn't affect Naruto in the slightest and he just said simply, "No, I just knew her back from home!"

"Well, good job, you managed to crush Shiro!" Neko griped as she took the slightly squashed cat from Hinata's arms.

"He'll live," Ookami said, "By the sound of him purring, it seems he didn't care."

Neko was still a bit sore about it and she busied herself smoothing down the cat's fur while Naruto chattered excitedly to Hinata. It had been years since he had lay eyes on anyone he knew from Konoha.

"So, are you staying here or not?" Neko finally asked impatient to know if they would really have guests.

"Well, w-why wouldn't I?" Hinata asked still stuttering because of the presence of Naruto.

"Okay, then, you can stay in Kawaii's room," Neko said as she walked off, intending for Hinata to follow.

Hinata followed Neko into a room. It had all the basic things of a bedroom, lighting, a bed, and a dresser. The only thing that surprised Hinata was that another cat was enjoying a nap on the bed that was meant to be Hinata's. The cat seemed normal, it was a tortoiseshell cat, or in other words was black with lots of orange speckles, spots, dots, and splotches but besides that it had exactly five tails. For a minute Hinata thought it was possibly a demon but brushed off the idea of a demon the size of a large rabbit.

"Kawaii, sorry but you're going to have to move your furry butt into my room," Neko said as she scooped up the weird cat, "by the way, this is Kawaii she's a bakeneko."

Kawaii did not look very pleased at the sight of humans interrupting her nap and suddenly Hinata was struck aghast when it spoke, "What is this thing doing in _my _room?"

"I-I'm very sorry, i-if this is your room-," Hinata begun to apologize but Neko quickly interrupted.

"Nonsense! The only reason Kawaii uses this room is because nobody else does," Neko said, "It's yours now for as long as you need it, but I don't think your boyfriend will have room to stay in here too."

Hinata's face was red as flame again and started stuttering worse, "H-h-he's n-not…W-we're j-just f-friends!"

"Oh, my bad!" Neko said apologetically, "So is he staying here too?"

"I-I don't know," Hinata stuttered still feeling the after effects of being considered as Naruto's girlfriend.

"Well, okay," Neko said as she petted Kawaii who looked unhappy, "he can stay on the couch if he likes."

"I swear this to you, Hyuuga," Kawaii said evily, "I will get my revenge."

This kind of freaked out Hinata seeming how a cat that can talk might possibly have some other power.

"Oh, shut up, you fat cat!" Neko scolded the bakeneko, "Don't mind Kawaii she's just mad that she'll have to sleep on my bed with Shiro."

Kawaii hissed at the mention of Shiro, "I hate that piece of trash, Shiro! He's so stupid and he smells like blood every time he comes inside."

"That's because he was hunting, dear, now go do something constructive," Neko said as she set the bakeneko down.

"Unlike you, I _am _able to do something slightly constructive," Kawaii said as she sulked her way out of the room.

"I can't believe Tora-ryuu actually talked me into taking that thing with me," Neko muttered.

"Who?" Hinata asked who was not aware of who Tora-ryuu could possibly be.

"Tora, she's my older sister, when I left our home she made me take Kawaii with me for safety," Neko stated, "Of course, you're wondering 'What could a cat do to protect someone like me?' well, Kawaii has powers of her own. Don't be scared if she tries to use them on you tonight. She looks really mad at you at the moment."

"Well, I-I'm sorry if i-it's really too much trouble for her," Hinata said even though she was apologizing to a cat.

"It's okay, it's about time someone actually used this room anyway," Neko said before walking away, "If you need anything don't hesitate to ask anyone."

Hinata was left alone in her new room, so she took the time to study it closer. It had stone walls and a stone floor, it was obvious it wasn't going to be fancy; it was just a small house after all. The bed had white sheets and an old blanket over it. Nothing seemed new or particularly posh, just things you would find in an old house. Hinata sat down on the bed, taking in what the small room had to offer.

Naruto meanwhile was left at the kitchen/dining room/living room of the small house and busied himself with the box of kittens at the floor. The mother was a black cat with wide, fearful yellow eyes five small but brave tabby kittens meandered around in the cardboard box. Naruto reached in the box, trying to touch the black cat, it crawled out from under his hand and scurried past him leaving her kittens behind. They were brave and curious in contrast to the mother. They crawled on top, around, and under Naruto's hand not affected by their mother's retreat.

"Oh, you're playing with Kuro's kittens, but where's Kuro?" Neko asked from behind Naruto.

"That black cat?" Naruto asked even though it was obvious to who Neko was referring to, "She ran off."

"She's such a coward! One day, she's going to end up in a bad situation because of it, and I'm not going to be the one bailing her out of it," Neko commented as she rooted through the cupboards and pulled out a can of tuna.

As soon as Neko ran the can of tuna under the electric can opener what Naruto thought to be millions of cats rushed in. Three tabbies all the same age, three younger cats two black and white and the other tabby, Shiro, Kawaii, and a black and white cat Shiro's age. They were all pestering Neko for the delectable fish and they managed to wrestle the can of fish away from Neko. Kuro left her five rambunctious kittens to enjoy the feast with her family and the kittens soon followed too.

"No fair, guys! That was my dinner!" Neko wined at the cats like they were human.

"Not anymore," Kawaii said, "By the way, I demand my own can so I won't have to share with these low lives."

"No, get your own food!" Neko said as she pulled a second can out for herself.

Naruto already figured out that Kawaii was a bakeneko by just looking at her. It was a little obvious to him.

"So, are you staying here?" Akane said from his chair at the dining table where he was reading a book.

"Well, Hinata's staying here so I think it's best I do to," Naruto said, "Where do I sleep?"

"We can kick Akane out and you can have his room," Neko said as she devoured her can of tuna.

"Oh, no, not my room, he stays either on the couch or with his girlfriend," Akane said as he looked up from his book.

"Um, she's not my girlfriend," Naruto corrected.

"Sure, keep thinking that," Akane said sarcastically.

"It's the couch for you then!" Neko said as she scooped up Shiro and left the kitchen-dining-living room.

That night Hinata was staring at the ceiling of her new room, she had tried to sleep but being in the same building as Naruto always made her a bit nervous plus she couldn't sleep on her back because of her delicate wings and whenever she turned onto her side the feathers would tickle her face.

Hinata had tried avoiding Naruto after his sudden appearance so she wouldn't seem like a nuisance to him. Neko and her cats had followed her around all day giving out advice and asking questions like an excited ten year old. Right now, a tabby cat that Neko had fondly named Toryufu, was asleep at the foot of Hinata's bed. The friendly tabby had followed Hinata ever since she saw her; Neko said it was because she really liked Hinata.

The room was pitch black and Hinata felt like she was trapped in a black void of nothing and only her feeling the weight of Toryufu on her bed anchored her thoughts into thinking that she was still on Earth. There was no light whatsoever.

But then, Hinata's eyes saw a glow. It was a pale green-blue flickering light and it got brighter and brighter until Hinata finally decided to see what it was. Lined up around her bed were ghostly balls of green-blue flames dancing around the bed. Hinata yelped but thought that it was just her imagination.

_"Get out!!" _a voice chanted over and over getting louder as it went on and on.

Hinata screamed and ran for her life out of the supposedly haunted room. She crashed into someone at the end of the hall and tumbled to the ground on top of them. Hinata felt her lips against something warm and when she opened her eyes, she was staring at brilliantly blue eyes that were wide with surprise. Then, Hinata realized with horror and shock that she was kissing Naruto…

"I-I-I'm so so so sorry! I didn't mean to!" Hinata squeaked as she helped herself up.

"I-it was an accident! No big deal! Nope, never happened!" Naruto stuttered a bit himself.

"Wow, I never meant that little prank to go that far!" Kawaii said as she walked out from a shadowy corner.

"Wait! Y-you did that…that… fire thing?!" Hinata said surprised.

"Well, us bakeneko's have a reputation for controlling ghostly fires!" Kawaii said proudly, "I was angered by you invading my living area so I decided to play a little trick upon you!"

Hinata would be fuming at the stupid monster cat if she hadn't of been so embarrassed. She ran back to her room where Toryufu was waiting for her and she slammed the door behind her. Her face was as red as a cherry and she hid under the covers of her bed and wrapped her wings around her body as if they were her shield from the world.

Naruto was alone with the bakeneko and he was considering feeding her to Kyuubi if it wasn't for Neko walking in.

"What's going on?" she asked as she rubbed the grogginess from her eyes Shiro was in her arms and was looking equally groggy.

"Nothing, go back to bed," Naruto told her as he layed back down on the couch.

/\\/\\/\\/\\/\\/\\/\\/\\/\\/\\/\\/\\/\\/\\/\\/\\/\\/\\/\\

Yay! Freakin' finally! I finished the second chapter! Please, please, review, review! I think this chapter might've sucked but hey, this is my first Naruto fic! **The next chapter's dedicated to the tenth reviewer!**

Bye for now!

Ninja Cat of Light


	3. Chapter 3 Wierd Cats and Guilt Won't Mix

I think the last chapter went better than I thought it did

Haha! Remember me! Yeah, school started so now I'm swamped with work to catch up with! I think the last chapter went better than I thought it did! At first I thought it freaking sucked but now my reviewers have convinced me otherwise! Thankies to you all! **This chapter is dedicated to piratequeen11! **I need to make a few polls so I can let the readers decide who a few characters may end up with in the end. That will come later when I'm finished introducing the characters of this story though and the only romance for now is gonna be NaruxHina. I hope you enjoy this chapter though!

Chapter 3 Talking Cats and Guilt Doesn't Mix

Throughout the whole morning Hinata had been avoiding Naruto as much as she could. She busied herself by looking after Kuro's five energetic kittens that were always on the move even though they were so tiny. Kuro herself was putting as much space between her and every person in the house. Toryufu was following Hinata as usual, the tabby cat was very fond of Hinata now. Hinata was now outside watching the five kittens play and tumble.

Shiro had just escaped the house through a nearby window and sat down beside Hinata his grey and white fur tussled from squeezing through the partially opened window. Hinata ran her hand through his soft fur. He was one of the biggest of the cats, most likely one of the oldest but not aged. Shiro looked at Hinata with his kind yellow eyes. All of Neko's cats had yellow eyes except the five kittens that were still too young to have any other eye color but blue, so Hinata inferred that they were all related somehow, like a family. Hinata was yet to meet all of the cats but Neko had said that there were exactly sixteen cats that belonged to her that roamed the woods that they lived in.

"Hey, Hinata," Neko said as she sat down beside Shiro, her long trench coat that hid her wings trailed over the ground that she was sitting on.

"Oh… hi…" Hinata replied trying to look normal.

"…So…what're you doing?" Neko asked as she stroked Shiro's fur.

"Nothing much," Hinata said as she kept her eyes on the five kittens.

"You must be making sure the kittens don't get into any trouble, huh?" Neko said trying to strike up a conversation.

"I guess," Hinata said as she looked down.

A silence followed during which Neko examined her nails. Shiro was curled up in Neko's lap and Toryufu was playing with her own tail.

"…So, have you talked to Naruto any?" Neko asked innocently (supposedly).

"No, not really," Hinata replied as she wondered why Neko would ask a question like that.

"I thought you two were friends or something like that," Neko said curiously.

"We are…at least I-I think s-so…" Hinata said as she recalled the embarrassing events of the night before.

"I'm so sorry!!" Neko shouted disturbing a sleeping Shiro, "Naruto asked me to see if you were mad at him and I felt like I had to since he really, really, really felt bad about something!!"

"Huh, he felt bad?" Hinata said with surprise in her voice, "about what?"

"He wouldn't say, but I know that if he could, he would say sorry about it," Neko said with worry in her voice as she hugged Shiro as if he was her lifeline, "I was sort of scared myself that you might've been angry at him for some reason and I felt bad about it so I wanted to help."

"This is all my fault!" Hinata said who had paid a bit attention to the last statement Neko spoke, "I've got to apologize right now! But how?"

"What do you mean 'but how?'? You've gotta go to him right now!" Neko partly shouted as she pointed back to the house.

"I c-can't, I'm too scared to g-g-go," Hinata said as she panicked a bit.

"Don't be! Go right now, or I'll throw Shiro at you!" Neko said as she threatened Hinata with a napping cat.

"No, y-you don't know what happened l-last n-n-night," Hinata said as her face turned a bit red.

"Oh, something _did_ happen, Naruto told me nothing did, I must've been too sleepy to actually go see if anything was going on," Neko said as she recalled the night before.

"You're demon cat-,"

"I believe it's a bakeneko," Neko corrected.

"Okay, bakeneko, it scared me last night and I crashed into Naruto, and t-then….th-then, we sort of… k-k-kind of…um, k-k-k-kissed," Hinata said whispering her last word.

"Oh, that's why you've been so jumpy……." Neko said before rudely inquiring, "So what was it like? Was it your first kiss? Did you enjoy it? I can't wait to tell Shiikaa what you did!"

"What?! Who's Shiikaa? Please, don't tell!!" Hinata said with fear that last night's happenings would get out.

"Shiikaa, is another cat of mine, he's Toryufu's brother and a ruthless gossip! Oh, and if you don't want me to, I won't tell anybody," Neko said as she started to crack up a bit, "I just did that to see the look on your face!"

Neko's words didn't make anything better. Hinata stood up from her seat on the ground and left without saying anything else, she knew that her voice would only come out in high pitched stutters. She could've sworn she heard Neko and another voice talking while she left though.

"What'd I do? I was trying to do something nice for once…guess I screwed it up huh?" Neko said.

"Can you blame her?" the other voice said, male by the sound of it.

Hinata just shrugged it off thinking that maybe Akane or Ookami had shown up while her back was turned. Funny thing though, when Hinata slipped through the front door inside the house she saw Akane at his usual spot, reading his usual book and Ookami was snacking on some raw meat he found in the fridge somewhere. Hinata decided to bother with it later; she really wanted to find a secluded spot where nobody would bother her. Eventually she decided just to stay in her room and hope nobody would follow her, even though Toryufu was right at her feet as Hinata walked swiftly to the small bedroom she was currently using. Once she was in her room, she closed the old wood door which produced a defiant creak before she closed it with a snap.

"Why are you so upset, onee-chan?" a feminine voice said, startling Hinata.

Hinata assumed it was Neko who might've snuck in behind her but Hinata thought it was strange for Neko to be calling her "one-chan". Hinata looked behind her from her place at the closed door; no one was there except her and Toryufu. Hinata sat on her bed and Toryufu climbed into her lap and curled up while staring at her with her intelligent yellow eyes. Hinata distracted herself by stroking Toryufu's silvery-grey tabby fur, each tabby stripe was thinner than a pencil.

"Are you upset with Neko-onee-chan?"

Hinata squealed and jumped up, causing Toryufu to land on the bed. Hinata couldn't believe it, talking cats! She knew that Kawaii, the bakeneko had the gift of speech since she was part monster, but Neko's cats weren't supposed to talk, only meow and purr and do stuff that normal cats are supposed to do.

"Y-you c-can t-t-talk?!" Hinata stuttered out the words the best she could.

"Hai, and I'm even better than Issoku now!" Toryufu said in a proud voice that could qualify in being a soprano in choir.

"Cats aren't supposed to talk! Th-this has g-got to be j-just a dr-dream!" Hinata panicked.

"Huh, cats _aren't _supposed to talk? That's not what Neko-onee-chan and Ookami-onii-san told me," Toryufu said with a puzzled expression.

"Well, they aren't at least, not that I'm aware of!" Hinata said as she rethought her every encounter with a cat before, "I should've seen this coming with all the things that have happened to me in the past few years."

"Like what? You can tell me everything and anything and I won't tell anybody until the day I die…unlike Shiikaa!" Toryufu proudly proclaimed as her Onee-chan's words peaked her curiosity.

"Who's Shiikaa? And who was it you mentioned earlier, Issoku?" Hinata asked trying to figure out who the cat was talking about.

"Hm? You don't know who they are? They're cats just like me, you may have not seen Issoku, but surely you've seen Shiikaa frolicking around!" Toryufu exclaimed.

"No, I've only met you, that ghost-demon cat thing-,"

"Kawaii, she's mean…"

"Oh, okay then, Kawaii, Shiro, Kuro, and her five kittens." Hinata stated.

"Well, Neko _did _tell you that there were sixteen of us, right?" Toryufu said as she cocked her head in a cute way.

"Yes," Hinata confirmed.

"Okay, so we'll skip Kawaii, she's mean, and she isn't even related to me." Toryufu mumbled as she thought through her family tree, "Alright, first of all, you have Shiro and his brother, Shiruvesuteru, then the next generation is my brother from another litter, Issoku, and his sister, Buutsu, then there's my generation of me, my brothers, Shiikaa and Robu, and Kuro my sister. Then there are Buutsu's three kittens…well, they're too old to be kittens, at least six months old, anyway, there's Osatsu, his sister, Tekisasu, and his other sister, Kuroyuri. Then, there are Kuro's five kittens, Momo, Ichigo, Ringo, Kuroichigo, and Chibi."

Hinata was silent as she tried to register the great number of names Toryufu had listed of her gigantic family that lived in the forest with her and Neko. Hinata didn't know how Neko kept up with all of them, if not at all. Hinata noticed there was a lot of talk and teasing about Toryufu's brother Shiikaa so Hinata decided to ask Toryufu about him.

"So, who's Shiikaa? You and Neko seem to talk about him a lot." Hinata asked hoping to strike a conversation.

"Oh, Shiikaa? He's my brother! He's such a goof, too, and gossips almost as much as Neko does!" Toryufu giggled or what Hinata thought was a giggle for a cat, then Toryufu's expression saddened, "Him and Issoku were very close."

"'Was'?" Hinata asked hoping to know what was wrong.

"Well, he went missing, I wouldn't bring him up around Neko though, she gets real sad whenever anybody says something about him," Toryufu said she stared out of a nearby window, "I even feel a bit sad. Nobody knows how he disappeared or where he is. It's so strange because cats never go missing here unless they've been killed, but if Issoku was dead, someone would've found his body by now."

Hinata noticed that Toryufu didn't enjoy talking about Issoku so she changed the subject to something more lighthearted, "So who's the father of Kuro's kittens? He must have been a good cat as well as they've turned out."

"I don't know. All Kuro said was that he was a wildcat she had met once. He doesn't sound all that great to me!" Toryufu scoffed at her sister's secrecy.

Hinata couldn't think of anything else to say but she remembered what Neko had told her about what Naruto said. Hinata felt like she was procrastinating on apologizing but it wasn't everyday you got to talk to a cat that was able to talk back.

"I really need to see if Naruto-kun is alright…" Hinata thought aloud.

"Then, go find him! What're you waiting for?" Toryufu said encouragingly as she leaped off of Hinata's bed, ready to follow.

"I-I can't," Hinata stuttered nervously just thinking about what, "Not a-after w-w-what happened last n-night."

"Then, I'll go if you won't," Toryufu said as she already made her way to the door.

"No! I want to do it myself!" Hinata said.

"Onee-chan, I think Naruto-onii-san, will believe a talking cat," Toryufu stated as she pushed the door open with one of her paws.

"No, I feel like I have to do this myself, but I just don't have the courage to go," Hinata said as she stared at the floor.

Toryufu went to stand beside Hinata, her tabby fur brushed Hinata's white feathers of her wings. Toryufu looked up at Hinata encouragingly, her yellow softened as they gazed into Hinata's pale, opalescent ones.

"Then, I'll go with you," Toryufu said, "I want you and Naruto-onii-san to be alright, and if even one of you aren't happy I'll fix it myself."

Hinata just nodded, she didn't know what to say to the strange talking cat but instead of silence she mutters a thank you as she forces her feet through her bedroom door. She slowly pushed herself through the house as she scanned for a glimpse of blonde hair that might indicate Naruto.

"I don't know where he is," Hinata said to Toryufu as she stood in the kitchen where Ookami was cleaning blood off of what looked like a throwing knife.

"Don't know where who is?" he asked as he rinsed the crimson off of the silver.

"N-n-n-aru…." Hinata tried to stutter out but couldn't manage she gave a pleading look to the tabby beside her.

"Hinata-onee-chan is looking for Naruto-onii-san, do you know where he is?" Toryufu said, almost scaring Hinata how calm the cat could be.

"Uh, I think he's in the woods somewhere, I think Neko and her thousands of cats followed him." Ookami said as he dried the now clean knife.

"O-okay," Hinata said.

"Come on, we'll find them," Toryufu said heading towards the front door.

"Y-you don't mean that we're going out there a-a-alone? I-I don't even know where N-N-Naruto is!" Hinata said trying her best to be cautious, besides humans were prowling everywhere for angels or demons and it won't be good for Hinata to be alone with nothing but a talking cat.

"I'm a cat remember? I can follow his scent straight to him!" Toryufu said confidently as she approached the front door.

"Oh, I guess that's alright," Hinata said uncertainly, she still thought it wasn't a good idea. She opened the door for the cat to go out first and when she followed more cats met them there.

A small cat that was black except for her chin, whiskers, paws, belly, and chest that were white glanced at Hinata and Toryufu before turning her eyes to the cat beside her which was a slightly larger but much skinnier cat that was a tabby like Toryufu but was darker and had more of a brown hue to it.

"Hey Kuroyuri, hey Robu, have you seen Naruto-onii-san?" Toryfu said to the two.

"I haven't," the tabby named Robu replied as he left leaving them with the smaller black and white cat.

"Well, I _have_, he headed towards the western part of the forest, Neko was with him," Kuroyuri said, "Why did you ask?"

"Hinata's looking for him," Toryufu said, "It's slightly important."

"Oh, okay, then," the young cat said, "Good luck! Oh, yeah, Shiro and Shiruvesuteru followed Neko as usual."

"Thanks for the tip." Toryufu said.

Toryufu headed in the direction Kuroyuri pointed out.

"Why did you need her to tell you who was with Naruto?" Hinata asked wondering if it was important.

"It's easier for cats to follow scents they know the best and I know Neko, Shiro and Shiruvesuteru's the best," Toryufu said as she trotted westward.

Hinata walked easily beside the cat that had picked up a scent. Eventually Toryufu's ears started to twitch and the tip of her tail waved back and forth.

"I can hear them now, but it doesn't sound good," Toryufu said as she broke into a slow lope that Hinata actually jogged to keep up with and eventually Hinata could hear the struggles of a battle raging on.

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Yay! I finally updated! And it probably won't be awhile until I update again! Sorry peoples! A girl has to go to school right? Even if it sux to the max! Alrighty, **next chapter is dedicated to the fifteenth reviewer! **Hope I won't procrastinate the next chapter until next millennium as usual!

Sincerely,

Ninja Cat of Light


	4. Chapter 4 On the RoadAgain

Yay

Yay! I gots reviews! Thankies to all! I have now started the polling and I desperately need votes so vote plz!! Please, please, please vote!! But hey, no worries!** This chapter is dedicated to my buddy usagiki1234!** Alright, I hope everybody likes this chapter as much as the last!

Chapter 4 On the Road Again

Hinata had walked upon a battle between her two friends, Naruto and Neko, and some strangers she had never seen before. Hinata could tell that it was a pretty nasty battle and Hinata hoped that Naruto and Neko were strong enough to be fighting because they were definitely outnumbered. Hinata scooped up Toryufu before the cat could think about joining the fray and Naruto noticed Hinata at the edge of the battle.

"Hinata, you've got to get out of here now!" he shouted as he ducked punches and dodged kicks.

Hinata was too startled to do anything and before she knew it she was being attacked herself. Out of defense Hinata fought the best she could against the people attacking her, there had to be at least two attacking her, Naruto, and Neko each. Toryufu was by Hinata's side, weaving between the people's feet and managing to trip them by biting and scratching giving Hinata a small advantage. Upon further observation though, Hinata noticed that the people had headbands like the ninjas in Konoha, except it had a music note like symbol.

_Sound village,_ Hinata thought as she managed to land a strong hit on a man.

"Hey! Hinata! I thought you were supposed to leave!" Neko said to Hinata as she took on the next opponent.

"I don't think I can!" Hinata shouted back as she held the two sound ninjas the best she could.

"Well, you two get out of here, I'll hold them off!" Neko shouted, "I'll meet up with you two later!"

"You don't stand a chance alone against all these guys!" Naruto said.

"Sure I do! Besides, who said I was alone?" Neko said as she glanced at Shiro Shiruvesteru who was fighting almost as well as people could they had even looked as if they had tripled in size from the last time Hinata checked probably a justsu of some kind, "Go on! Get out of here! I'll take a hostage if it makes you feel any better!" Neko shouted at the two of them.

Hinata didn't know how to make any mistake at the moment since she was being stabbed at with kunai knives from almost every direction. Eventually she escaped when one of the men had an open spot beside him Hinata could run through and get away. She figured they wouldn't be fast enough to catch her and if so, Naruto always had her back, right?

Hinata was running through the trees with Naruto, ninja style of course. Toryufu was back in Hinata's arms; Hinata knew she shouldn't leave her behind Neko or no Neko. Toryufu though, was steadily complaining about how she could've stayed and fought but Hinata didn't care, that cat had been one of her best friends since all the crazy things happened.

Hinata did feel guilty about running from the fight and leaving Neko, but Neko did say she could do it by herself. Hinata kept following Naruto's lead though, she couldn't let her worries drag her down. But she couldn't help but wonder when and where they would have to stop, because they couldn't run forever. Already, Hinata could see the sky above darkening signifying the end of the day. She hoped that everyone would make it through this alive.

Stars were slowly breaking there way through the sky as the sunset pink darkened to a purple and then to a blue. The moon overlooked the forest and Hinata wondered with sorrow if Neko was dead or alive.

"Hey, finally you two caught up with me!" Hinata heard a familiar voice say from a tree limb up ahead.

Neko was cleaning her nails with a kunai knife leisurely waiting for Naruto and Hinata to catch up to where she was at. Hinata marveled at how fast Neko could've taken out all of those Sound villagers and get ahead of Naruto and Hinata even though they had had a head start. Neko's pale blue eyes glinted in the moonlight with laughter, but the dark blue rim around them was almost black though, revealing her true worry and sadness of departing home.

"How did you get here so fast?" Naruto said, speaking Hinata's thoughts.

"I took the shortcut after I killed all of those guys, I think they have some friends though who might be on our tails," Neko said as she stroked Shiro who was perched on Neko's shoulder even though he was a pretty big cat.

"I don't remember a shortcut here, which one was it?" Toryufu asked.

"How should I know, all I do know is that we need to find somewhere that will be quick to find but easy to stay in," Neko said adopting a more serious attitude, "and I know just the place, towards Suna from here is a girl who lives on the edge of this forest who's an angel-demon sympathizer, she'll house us but the trip will have to stretch out until tomorrow morning so we'll have to stop for the night in the waterfall cave that's just in the direction we're going."

"Why's all of this so convenient?" Naruto asked as he wondered aloud.

"The sympathizer knew about the cave and built her house close to the direction it's in so that the angels and demons would find her house and get to have a rest stop if they couldn't find the cave." Neko explained as she started to lead the way, "There's a buttload of jutsus around the whole place so no one following us should be able to get in, at least that's what Ookami-onii-san told me."

"I wonder if the Sound villagers found Ookami and Akane back at your house," Hinata wondered hoping for a good answer.

"They're okay, the Sound probably did find them but Ookami and Akane can take care of their selves," Neko said as she dodged tree branches in her way, "but I'll hang the both of them by their toenails if they leave my cats behind!"

"How can they not leave them behind? There's too many to take at once," Naruto said.

"Well, most of the cats can take care of their selves but Kuro's five kittens need people to take care of them, and I swear I'll kill the both of them if all five aren't with them the next time we see those two," Neko said threateningly but Naruto and Hinata knew that Neko would never do it.

Before, they knew it was as black as well, midnight because it was. They had stopped at the cave Hinata had took shelter in (earlier in the story that is). A few remains from when she was last there such as ashes from a fire, leftover wood that she never used, and bones from animals she was forced to eat.

Shiro sniffed a fishbone and even licked it a bit and then decided to leave it alone. Shiruvesteru scanned the cave quickly before speaking, "I guess me and Shiro will catch food then seeming how we have nothing else to do."

"Good idea," Neko said, "I'll go find some firewood to make a fire with. Wanna come with me, Hinata?"

"Um….S-sure, I guess I'll go." Hinata said before standing to go follow Neko into the darkness of the woods.

"I'll go with you," Toryufu said as she hopped onto Hinata's shoulder.

Hinata trailed Neko out from the cave and under the waterfall into the danger of the woods. It was enough already that she had just been attacked by enemy ninja but the darkness didn't make it anymore comfortable.

"Are you sure we're s-safe out here…b-by o-o-ourselves…" Hinata asked nervously.

"We're fine, I'm pretty sure there's nothing in these woods unless you count the cats, then there is," Toryufu said as she calculated the population of the random cats living in the woods, "Of course there's always the bears, panthers, wolves, wild dogs, and those darned tigers Akane always has to chase away from the house. They just want something to eat, everyone has to eat even the blood thirsty forest-living carnivores do to!"

By now Hinata thought that her blood quite literally froze and she could hardly move from fear. She looked over her shoulder to make sure nothing was preying on her or Neko. Hinata only saw trees that looked hazy from the darkness.

"Uh, N-N-Neko I-I r-re-really think w-we should go b-back n-n-now!" Hinata said.

"Nah, nothing's here, besides you _are _a Hyuuga, aren't you?" Neko asked as she started picking up random sticks and limbs while walking on the forest floor.

"Y-yes," Hinata answered.

"Then, use that weird eye thingy you have if you're that scared." Neko said as she picked up more wood from the ground.

"Oh…right…" Hinata said as she turned on her Byakuugan.

Luckily nothing was trying to hunt the two down so Hinata felt a little safer and decided to actually start picking up sticks and not keep looking behind her at the same time. They had collected a good bit of burning wood for their makeshift camp so Neko decided to turn and go back while Hinata followed.

"Back already?" Naruto said upon Hinata and Neko's entry to the cave.

"Yeah, yeah," Neko said as she dumped her load of firewood on the cave floor.

Hinata was silent as she just set hers down. She looked over at Shiro and Shiruvesteru who had caught some fish that was waiting to be cooked. They had already had there's raw and the white bones that had been licked clean lay on the floor by a large pile of fish.

"I know they couldn't have caught all of those fish by their selves because they hardly can catch a fish without acting like pansies over getting wet." Neko said as she pointed with her thumb at the two cats sitting beside the fresh catch.

"Well, I did help them only because I was getting bored and they were already tired," Naruto said as he scratched the back of his head.

"Psh, they aren't tired! They're lazy is what they are!" Neko said playfully as she picked up Shiro and hugged him like a teddy bear while he purred.

"You're just as lazy as us!" Shiro said equally playful as he rubbed his head against her hand while she stroked his fur.

"You're the lazy one," Shiruvesteru said not as playfully earning a hurt look from Shiro.

"Don't be such a meany Shiru!" Neko said in a childish voice.

"I'm not mean!" Shiruvesteru said as he watched Naruto light a fire.

"Oh, well, who cares?" Neko said, "I'm hungry so when are we going to cook those fish?"

"Whenever I get the fire going," Naruto answered as he managed to encourage the fire into a small flame.

"Hurry or I might pull an Ookami and eat it raw!" Neko said as she picked out her fish, "Hey, Hinata which one do you want?"

"Anyone's fine with me," Hinata said quietly as she watched the fire grow steadily.

Eventually, the fire grew big enough to cook the fish and Neko chattered on endlessly like she felt like she had to be the entertainment. Hinata zoned out and let her mind wander the rest of the evening and when everyone finally decided to fall asleep she felt herself immediately sink into sleep like a stone in water.

_Hinata was standing in a black abyss. There was nothing under her feet but she wasn't falling. She felt like nothing mattered where she was at. No war, no demons, no angels. But she wasn't alone there and in the distance of the shadowy blackness, Hinata saw a girl. She had long black hair in a high ponytail and was standing on one hand like some kind of gymnast._

"_Who are you?" Hinata asked curiously._

_The girl looked up at Hinata and finally answered her without getting out of the position she was in "Huh? Oh, yeah, I'm the person you're going to be living with in a few days." _

_Hinata knew she must have looked confused when the girl decided to explain, "You know the angel-demon sympathizer, lover, supporter, or whatever you like to call it. The name's Suzume."_

"_Oh…why are you here?" Hinata asked._

"_Um…oh, yeah, I had to warn you and only you about something dangerous of the sort," the girl said rather bored as she waited for a minute, "…Well, aren't you gonna ask what's after you or what's trying to kill you?"_

"_There's something trying to kill me?!" Hinata asked in surprise._

"_Well, no not really. At least not yet…I think…" the girl said uncertainly._

"_Who is it?" Hinata asked._

"_I'm not entirely sure yet, but I'll try to figure it out if you try too," the girl said._

"_If they don't want to kill me then what do they want from me?" Hinata asked._

"_Well, let's just say you'll meet a traitor in the future." The girl said, "I'm certain about that!"_

_Then, the blackness started to take the same shape as the cave Hinata was in and the girl disappeared._

Hinata woke up from her dream to find that Neko and Naruto were already awake and cleaning up.

"Look who is up!" Toryufu said as she trotted over to Hinata's resting place.

"Oh, sorry, Hinata did we wake you up?" Naruto asked.

"N-no…" Hinata said.

"Good! Then, let's get moving after we get the place cleaned up because when we do, we're going to Suzume's place." Neko said as she kicked some fish bones and unused wood into the water near the entrance of the cave.

_Was that the girl in my dream? _Hinata asked herself.

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Yay! I finally posted it! Please review now **because the next chapter's dedicated to the 20****th**** reviewer! **Sorry if this chapter wasn't as entertaining as the last ones. I've been rushing it lately and I've been getting other fic ideas bopping around in my head!

Ciao!  
Ninja Cat of Light


	5. Chapter 5 Sparrow Girl

This is a very important chapter to the story and explains a bunch of information especially about the whole angel-demon war thingy. It took me forever to prepare this chapter and perfect it! Not to mention school and holidays getting in the way and my computer also messed up over Christmas vacation! But all in all I've finally got this chapter to everyone on fanfiction! Yay! **This chapter is dedicated to Music 1s my s0ul! **Okay, here's the 5th chapter of Feathers. I hope the next chapter won't take as long to update!

Feathers

Chapter 5 Sparrow Girl

"Are we there yet?" Toryufu asked over and over from Hinata's shoulder.

"If you say that one more time, I swear I'll leave you for the tigers." Neko said irritably. "We're getting real close, just wait there."

"Whatever, I was just wondering because it's been a while since we've left." Toryufu said while adjusting her sitting position on Hinata's shoulder while Hinata followed Neko's lead through the forest, "Are you sure we're not going the wrong way?"

"Yes, I'm sure, now shut your mouth so this migraine will go away." Neko said while rubbing her head.

"A migraine? Are you alright?" Hinata asked with concern.

"Oh, I'm fine; I get them all the time." Neko said trying not to cause a stir.

"Really? How come?" Naruto asked with curiousity.

"Comes with being me I guess." Neko said normally but she looked off into the distance as if thinking something over.

Even though Hinata could tell his curiosity wasn't at ease, Naruto stayed silent because he knew if he asked any further he wouldn't get any answers from Neko. And lately Hinata was wondering if Neko was going the right way or not. It was already late in the evening and the three started out from the cave that morning. Earlier though, Neko had said the trip was only a few hours.

"Hm, this is strange. Kawaii said she would be meeting up with us sometime and it's been taking her a long time." Neko thought aloud.

_I personally would rather have her not here, _Hinata thought as she remembered the nasty prank and the unpleasant words Kawaii always tormented Hinata with. Hinata still blushed at the thought of her kiss with Naruto caused by the ghostly cat.

"_I heard that." _Hinata heard a disembodied voice say to her causing Hinata to scream loudly.

"Hinata what's wrong?!?!" Naruto asked stopping dead in his tracks.

"Th-the cat!" Hinata squeaked.

"Oh, Kawaii's here." Neko said before scanning around the surroundings of the forest.

"_It's pretty sad how you can tell I'm here by just noticing the Hyuuga girl's terror." _Kawaii said sardonically while only her glowing amber eyes appeared staring eerily at the three.

"Shut it, now get the rest of you out here before I use it for target practice," Neko said as she pulled out a kunai threateningly.

"My bad," the five tailed cat said sarcastically as she appeared from thin air before the angels and demon.

"Whatever, just get us to Suzume's." Neko said.

"Oh, that's it?" Kawaii asked, "No, apology wanted for showing up late?"

"That would be nice but I don't think we have time." Naruto said crossing his arms in uncertainty, "And how is a cat going to get us there?"

"Watch." Kawaii said before the forest around them went black.

Hinata could still see Neko, Naruto, and the cats but everything else was a black abyss. Before she knew it the forest was appearing again but different. The trees were different and a path had been carved trough the forest undergrowth.

"Thanks Kawaii-chan." Neko said before following the path.

"What just happened?" Naruto asked in a confused daze.

"I teleported you as far as I could to Suzume's house." Kawaii answered before leading the way in front of Neko.

"So the cat just took us to the house that fast?" Hinata asked in wonderment.

"Hai!" Neko said, "Her terrible punctuality is the reason we're so late getting to Suzume-chan's house."

"At least I got you there." Kawaii answered ill-temperedly.

"Hush," Shiruvesteru said to Kawaii, "You shouldn't talk to people in such a bad manner."

"You're one to talk," Shiro said to Shiruvesteru, "You shouldn't talk to Kawaii-chan like that."

"You shouldn't look for a fight in such a manner," Shiruvesteru replied defensively and scowled at Shiro threateningly.

"I'm not, I'm only defending a lady." Shiro said as his fur began to bristle.

"Both of you shut up so we can all have some peace here." Kawaii said carelessly to the two brother cats.

"Yes, Kawaii-chan." Shiro replied politely.

"You three argue too much." Neko said to the cats while she scratched Shiro's ear.

"Mainly, those two." Kawaii said.

"True," Neko agreed.

"Why do you fight so much?" Hinata asked the two brothers.

"Sibling rivalry is all." Shiro answered sweetly to Hinata.

"More of your irrelevance." Shiruvesteru said before Neko flicked one of his ears and silenced him.

It was awhile before Hinata caught sight of a small cottage like house a little ways off from the path they were taking. She hoped that the cottage meant the end of the trek there which also meant for Naruto that he survived Shiro and Shiru's endless arguments and Kawaii's endless insults.

"Here we are," Kawaii said, "and I think we're in time for dinner."

"I hope its ramen." Naruto said reminiscing of his precious ramen that sadly doesn't grow in forests (of course it doesn't grow at all).

The little red door opened and a girl not too older than them stuck her head out and shouted, "Hey! I was expecting you hours ago!"

"She knew we were coming?" Naruto inquired.

"Hai, Kawaii-chan sent her the message before taking us here." Neko said before approaching the cottage, "Sorry we took so long Suzume, Kawaii was late meeting us."

"Oh, I heard something about that." Suzume said before letting in the travelers, "Come on in, and make yourself at home. I just got through making some miso soup."

"Yay! Miso!" Neko said before rushing to the kitchen inside.

Kawaii let herself in and Naruto followed. Hinata was a little more hesitant but she didn't take long deciding on whether to stay inside or out and hurried inside and closed the door behind her.

The house was very homey and warm. Everything seemed to kind of have an old and antique air around it. The tape on every other object must've hinted at the age. The hinges on the cabinets looked like they had to be fixed at one point seeming how the screws in the hinges were newer then the hinge itself. It still had a homey aura about it and everyone made their selves at home. The cats were sprawled out across a couch in the living room and Neko was steadily filling her bowl with miso soup with Naruto behind her.

Hinata on the other hand sat at the table cautiously waiting for everyone else to finish in the kitchen as Kawaii seated herself beside her on a bench. The bakeneko stared at Hinata intensely and blinked, and then she began to lazily lick one paw.

"Need anything, Kawaii-san?" Suzume asked while she ran about the kitchen making everything look nice for the visitors.

"I would enjoy a can of tuna if you have one, but other than that warm milk would be nice." Kawaii said before nestling down on the bench.

"Alright, I'll make sure the milk is extra warm." Suzume said before scratching Kawaii's ear.

"You know me too well," Kawaii answered with a faint purr.

As Naruto and Neko greedily ate Hinata finally went and got a small portion of soup for herself and sat at the table. Suzume walked away with a saucer of faintly steaming milk and Kawaii followed her with all five tails happily waving in the air.

"Where's she going?" Naruto asked between bites.

"She doesn't like eating in front of anyone." Neko answered before pushing her bowl away from her. "That was delicious! I love a good bowl of miso every once in awhile."

Neko stretched her arms then stretched her wings like a lazy cat and began to leave, "I think I'm going on to bed, it's been a long day."

"Alright, I've already got a room fixed for you." Suzume said walking in before taking Neko's empty soup bowl.

"Yay! Will you tell me a story too?" Neko asked childishly.

"You're on your own with that one." Suzume said while she balanced more empty dishes that were collected from the cats.

Hinata was pretty much alone with Naruto but luckily he was too busy eating to really strike up some sort of conversation. Hinata ate a little while glancing back and forth from her bowl to Naruto and even catching him looking at her every now and then. Suzume eventually finished cleaning and sat down with the two who weren't going to finish eating any time soon.

"So, how do you like it?" Suzume asked cheerfully.

"It's very good." Hinata replied quietly.

"I haven't had a meal like this since who knows when!" Naruto answered happily with a grin.

"I'm glad you enjoy it." Suzume said while twirling her black ponytail.

A silence followed as Suzume twirled her black hair and her storm gray eyes gazed from Hinata to Naruto. Her eyes seemed to look into their soul, like she could see everything about them. Hinata could imagine the same eyes on Ookami if he wasn't wearing his black blindfold.

"So," Suzume said casually breaking the silence, "Anything interesting happen on the way here?"

"Not really besides the fact that fat cat was late getting us here." Naruto answered before pushing his bowl away from him.

"Really now." Suzume said, "Ookami-kun didn't follow you here?"

"Not that we know of." Naruto said, "Neko said he would come later."

"And so he will." Suzume said.

Another awkward silence followed before Suzume concentrated on the two again. Hinata had to stop eating because the stare shook her and made her lose her appetite.

"Did Neko-chan say anything about a migraine?" Suzume asked lazily.

It took awhile before Hinata remembered Neko saying something about a headache earlier in the day.

"Um, sh-she did…earlier in the d-day, that is." Hinata said nervously.

Suzume's gaze softened at Hinata's timid speech before hardening back to the delving gaze. Kawaii walked in and started cleaning her face in a corner away from the three.

"Kawaii," barked Suzume.

"Hm." Kawaii grunted back.

"You haven't told them about Neko's…specialty, have you?" Suzume asked while keeping her eyes on Naruto and Hinata.

"It's not their place to know." Kawaii answered quickly.

"You should have told them by now. It's their right to know." Suzume replied finally turning her gaze on Kawaii. Kawaii's fur bristled in agitation before laying flat again. Her tails lashed back and forth in anger and indecision.

She breathed deeply before speaking, "I thought it was Ookami-san's job to explain these things."

"True…but still, he hasn't been here to explain much." Suzume replied.

"Can we please leave the subject alone?" Kawaii pleaded.

"Fine," sighed Suzume with a disappointed tone.

Another awkward silence filled the room and Hinata was curious about what Suzume and Kawaii were talking about. Hinata could even feel Naruto's burning curiosity. Hinata felt her wings quiver a bit before she steadied them the best as she could.

"So," Suzume said breaking the silence, "I've heard about him over there but what about you?"

It took Hinata a bit before figuring out suzume was talking to her and felt her wings quiver all over again.

"Um…w-what do you mean?" Hinata asked uneasily.

"I can tell by looking at you," Suzume said, "you haven't always been an angel your whole life, have you?"

Hinata fell silent. She wasn't able to reply to Suzume's words. Hinata knew she couldn't stay quiet forever but she partially hoped that if she was hushed that everyone would forget what Suzume said.

Of course that wasn't going to happen…

"Are you okay, Hinata?" Naruto asked kindly.

"Uh, um… I-I-I'm f-fine…" Hinata managed to stutter out.

"Are you sure? You don't look all that comfortable." Naruto said to her.

"I-I'm fine. I-I really a-am!" Hinata stumbled over her words again.

Naruto finally let it go while Suzume wasn't about to though.

"So you weren't always like this." Suzume said pointing at Hinata's white feathered wings. Hinata looked down hoping Suzume would stop pressuring her into talking.

"Give it a rest," Naruto spoke while he stared at a spot on the wall, "Can't you see she doesn't want to talk about it?"

"Maybe it's something she needs to get out." Suzume countered while Hinata still remained speechless.

"Well, what about you? You seem pretty fishy to me." Naruto asked changing the subject.

"Alright then," Suzume said, "what exactly is so fishy about me?"

"Why do you help angels and demons?" Naruto asked.

"Some of my best friends are demons. Some of my other best friends are angels. Why do you ask?" Suzume said turning her full attention to Naruto and leaving Hinata to herself.

"That doesn't seem like there's all that is to you." Naruto said.

Hinata could see Kawaii getting a little anxious. It seemed like she didn't want Suzume to spill too much information. Suzume just let out a deep breath and looked at everyone in the dining room.

"I used to be a ninja." Suzume said simply.

"And?" Naruto pressed.

"I got in trouble for something." Suzume replied.

"What exactly was that something?" Naruto said impatiently as he propped his head on his hand.

"I was convicted of treason." Suzume said earning a miniscule amount of silence.

"Why?" Naruto asked.

"For having relations to the enemy." Suzume said.

"Who's the 'enemy'?"

"You," Suzume said before explaining, "and 'you' as in angels and demons."

"That's stupid!" Naruto said banging the table with his fist and making Hinata jump.

"I know, the sad thing was I actually did converse daily with Ookami-kun and Neko-chan before the big angel-demon war." Suzume said.

Naruto paused before saying, "I never fought in the war thing. I was too busy hiding."

"From what?" Suzume said.

"From the people already hunting me." Naruto said, "I already was being attacked before the war moved to our region in Konoha. Besides, I thought the war thing was stupid so I stayed out of it."

"That's cool of you." Suzume said, "If it wasn't for the ginormous fights and battles breaking out all over the world demons and especially angels wouldn't be being hunted right now. In fact everyone wouldn't know who most of the angels were until they revealed what they are when they would fight the demons."

Hinata looked down in remembrance of her own past. She had only been an angel since the end of the war but she didn't know why. All she did know was the pain of when her wings first grew out of her back forcing their way out of her.

"Ookami-kun and Neko-chan also refused to partake of the war. Mainly because they're cousins and they're very close to each other. It's odd how a demon and angel both end up being family." Suzume seemed to just think aloud.

One of Kawaii's tails flicked and she turned her lantern-like yellow eyes towards the front door. "Someone's coming." She announced. A moment later the front door opened revealing Ookami, Akane, and a box of kittens with their mother in it with them.

"Were here and it took us longer than it did you people." Ookami said.

"Yeah, we were too busy getting Neko-baka's piles of cats outta the house." Akane grumbled as he set the cardboard box down in the living room.

"It's a good thing you made it. We were starting to get worried." Suzume said turning her attention to the angel and demon who walked through her front door.

Akane popped his neck before trudging off to a random bedroom, "I'm out, don't wake me up in the morning."

Ookami sat down beside Suzume at the table, "So what are we talking about?"

"You, surprisingly, and Neko." Suzume said.

"…What kind of things about me and my idiot cousin?" Ookami asked while letting his slight worry show.

"Well, let's see…" Suzume pondered trying to recall all that she spoke of, "Uh…oh yeah! Neko's specialty."

"Oh, so they've finally asked!" Ookami said returning to his calm and leisurely manner, "She must've got another headache, I swear, the idiot never thinks to keep some aspirin on her."

"They didn't exactly ask." Kawaii said glaring at Suzume, "More of Suzume trying to let them in on it."  
Hinata didn't know how puzzled she could get anymore. She really was wondering what the three were talking about and why Ookami and Suzume were more open about it than Kawaii.

"Oh…so they didn't ask?" Ookami asked before saying, "Well, then. Let's just don't tell them because I'm bushed and I would rather save it for tomorrow when Neko is less likely to hear."

"What do you mean? She's asleep already!" Naruto exclaimed.

"Neko-chan has a knack for eavesdropping so it'd be best if we got her out of the house instead of talking within earshot." Ookami explained while rising from his seat like a ghost rising from a grave.

"She's asleep! How can she hear us?" Naruto said impatiently.

"The little devil doesn't fall asleep until midnight." Akane said, "Until then, she's probably been listening to every word we're saying."

This caused Hinata to take a quick scan around her just incase. But then, with a parting word, Ookami left the room and everyone soon dispatched after that. It had been a long and confusing night but every word left Hinata wondering about what Ookami was meaning to tell everyone.

Toryufu was waiting for Hinata at the entrance of a random room.

"Where have you been?" Toryufu asked.

"Oh, I was listening to Suzume." Hinata replied.

"She's usually got something interesting to say." Toryufu said before nudging the door of the room open.

It was a bedroom almost like the one Hinata slept in at Neko, Akane, and Ookami's home. It was bigger though with a larger bed and more decorative.

"We're sleeping in here, just so you know. It's not too shabby, huh?" Toryufu said jumping on the bed and stretching and getting ready to go to sleep. Hinata smiled at her friend and closed the door behind her. But as Hinata fell asleep with Turyufu curled up beside her she remembered her dream from last night and remembered Suzume being the one warning her. She decided to let it wait until tomorrow because so much had already happened that day.

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Yay! Finally I got this chapter up! I hope it wasn't too bad because I was in a rush to get it up. **Alrighty then, the next chapter is dedicated to the 25****th**** reviewer!** Wow, I didn't know I'd make it to 20 at all! Thanks to all of the reviewers and even those who haven't reviewed!

Ja ne'

Ninja Cat of Light


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